Process of forming bursting charge



c. A. WO ODBURY. PROCESS OF FORMING BURSTING CHARGE.

APPLICATION FILED APR.4| I918- 1,382 5260. Patented June 21, 1921.

. I AUORIVEY STATES PATENT' OFFICE.

CLIFFORD A WOODBURY, 0F MIDDLETOWN TOWNSHIP, DELAWARE COUNTY, PENN-SYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO E. I. DU IPONT DE NEMOURS AND COMPANY, OF WILMING-TON, DELAWARE, A. CORPORATION OF'DELAWARE.

PROCESS OF FORMING BURSTING CHARGE.

' Application filed April 4,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLIFFORD A. W001)- BURY, of Middletown township, inthe county of Delaware,'and in the State of Pennsylvania, have inventeda certain new and useful Improvement in Processes of Forming BurstingCharge, and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,

and exact description thereof.

This invention relates to a process of forming a bursting charge forcontainers intended to be exploded, such as shells, grenades, torpedoes,mines, etc, and its object is to provide such a bursting charge whichshall have, among others, the advantages of rendering available newsources of raw material for bursting charges for high explosivecontainers and of providing a process by which said charge can be castinto said containers and there caused to solidify and completely fillthe space provided for the charge, and to such ends the inventioncomprises a process of producing a bursting charge for containersintended to be exploded, such as shells, grenades, torpedoes, mines,etc. i

In the accompanying drawing,

The figure is an axial section of a shell containing a bursting chargemade by a process embodying my invention.

The invention is capable of being carried out in different ways, but forthe purpose of illustration only one form of the invention will bedescribed herein. In filling containers intended to be exploded, such asshells, grenades, torpedoes, mines, etc., with bursting charges, it isdesirable to introduce the largest possible charge into a given space,so as to produce the maximum bursting effect. Trinitrotoluol hasheretofore been used to a very large extent, because, among otherreasons, it has a relatively low melting point and is, therefore,easily'melted and can be kept melted while being introduced into theshell or other body and does not freeze or solidify until it has reachedthe final condition in which it is to remain. The supply oftrinitrotoluol, however, may not be adequate. and it is very desirableto render other materials available to replace t iaitrotoluol in wholeor in part. i132 discovereda new bursting charge for Specification ofLetters Patent.

Patented June 21, 1921.

1918. Serial No. 226,712.

the said purpose, which is of high power; 1s safe for the purpose; andwhich bursting charge, though useful and available when introduced intothe shell or other container in solid condition, has ingredients havingmelt ng points too high to permit such ingredients as a practical matterto be melted and cast into the shell. I have, therefore, invented aprocess by which the said ingredients can, in effect, become part of amolten mass of such low melting point as to be capable of beingsuccessfully cast into a shell. andwhich charge has such qualities thatit is solidified; is highly explosive, and is easily detonated; and yetis relatively safe under all ordinary conditions other than detonation.

The trinitrotoluol used in my bursting charge may be either a crudeproduct, such as obtained by direct nitration of toluol, or a productobtained by refining the crude product.

My new blasting charge consists of a mixture of trinitrotoluol and asubstance whose molecule contains a picryloxy group (NO ,C H .O-), suchas picric acid and ammonium picrate.

This blasting charge can be detonated by ordinary commercial detonatorsand has an explosive force substantially equal of that oftrinitrotoluol.

In charging a shell, the ingredients may be pressed into the shell in adry condition, making a compact charge which is readily detonated by theusual primer. It is desirable, however, as above stated, to cast thecharge into the shell, in order to get the maximum possible weight ofexplosive into the shell. The picric acid and the ammonium picrate.having melting points too high to permit them to be cast undercommercial conditions. I have. as stated, invented a process by whichthe said ingredients can, in effect, become part of a molten mass ofsuch low melting point as to be capable of being cast into a shell.

The trinitrotoluol is melted and the desired quantity of picric acidadded, keeping the temperature well above the freezing point of themixture. I beiicve the picric acid virtually goes into solution with themelted trinitrotoluol, producing a homogeneous liquid, although I do notwish to be bound by this expression of opinion. temperatures of from 80to 90 (3., approximately 50 parts of picric acid can be added to 50parts of trinitrotoluol before a oint is reached where no further picricacid will dissolve in the melted trinitrotoluol.

To the mixture thus obtained, which is a material comprising moltentrinitrotoluol, may then be added either picric acid or ammoniumpicrate, or both substances, keeping the temperature of the mixture wellabove its freezing point.

In case of adding further picric acid, the amount that can be added canbe varied within wide limits without seriously affect ing the castingproperties. This additional picric acid I believe to remain insuspension in the liquid mixture of picric acid and trinitrotoluol.

On adding the ammoniu icrate to the mixture of trinitrotoluol an picricacid, I believe the explosive to be-carried in suspension in the liquidmixture of trinitrotoluol and picric acid. The percentage of any one ofthe ingredients that may be added to the liquid mixture will necessarily.vary, depending upon the fineness of the explosive and somewhat uponthe temperature at which the mixing is carried on.

The following formulae are typical of mixtures that can be usedsatisfactorily:

20% trinitrotoluol, 20% picric acid, ammonium picrate;

50% picric acid, 25% ammonium picrate.

ing picric acid in trinitrotoluol and pouring the mixture into acontainer ata temperature below the melting point of picric acid.

'5. The process which comprises dissolvingpicric acid in trinitrotoluol,introducingammonium picrate-into the mixture, and po1iring the mixtureinto a container at a temperature below the melting point of picricacid.

6. The process which comprises niixing with melted trinitrotoluol aquantity of picric acid inexcess of the amount soluble in thetrinitrotoluol at temperatures below the melting point of picric acid,and pouring the mixture into a container.

7. The process of charging an explosive container comprising mixingtrinitrotoluol with a quantity of picric acid greater than 50% of theamount of trinitrotoluol while maintaining the temperature of themixture below the melting point of picric acid and pouring the mixtureinto the container.

8. The process of charging an explosive container which comprises addingto a ma-- terial comprising molten trinitrotoluol a quantity greaterthan 10% of theamount of trinitrotoluol of a substance whose moleculecontains a picrylo-xy group while maintaining the temperature of themixture well trinitrotoluol, p1cr1c acld', ammonlum picrate.

In the figure of the accompanying drawing, I have shown, more or lessdiagrammatically, a shell body 1, having within it a bursting charge 2such as I have described, and having a detonating fuse 3 containing adetonator for detonating the bursting charge.

While I have described my invention above in detail, I wish it to beunderstood that many changes may be made therein without departing fromthe spirit of the invention.

I claim: a

1. The process of charging explosive containers with a mixturecomprising picric above its freezing point.

9. The process of charging an explosive container comprising mixingmelted trinitrotoluol with a quantity of picric acid and ammoniumpicrate each greater than 50% and 10% respectively of the amount oftrinitrotoluol while maintaining the temperature of the mixture belowthe melting point of picric acid or ammonium picrate and pouring themixtureinto the container.

10. The process of charging an explosive container which comprisesmixing picric acid and another nitrated aromati compound with meltedtrinitrotoluol to dissolve andhold them in suspension and pouring themolten mixture into the container.

' r 11. The process of charging an explosive container which comprisesmixing a substance whose molecule contains a picryloxy acid and ammoniumpicrate which comprises group with a material comprising moltentrinitrotoluol to' dissolve and hold said sub-1 stance in suspensiontherein and pouring the mixture into the container.

greater than 10% of the amount of trinitrotoluol while maintaining thetemperature of the mixture below the melting point of 15 ammoniumpicrate and pouring the mixture into the container.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand.

CLIFFORD A. WOODBURY.

Witnesses:

A. 'M. CoMEY, W. R. MowBBAY, JR.

